Stoney Fire:
New blaze burns 700 acres near city park in Chico; other Northern California fires are nearly tamed.
A large fire that broke out late Thursday night in Chico burned 650 acres in a little more than 13 hours, officials said.
The Chico Fire Department responded to the Stoney Fire at about 10:45 p.m. in the Canyon Oaks area just south of Bidwell Park, officials said. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, also responded to the incident.
Just after 7 p.m. Friday, the fire was 40 percent contained and had burned roughly 700 acres, according to the Cal Fire Butte County unit, which cited a “significant augmentation of resources.”
Precautionary evacuation warnings were recommended for residents living along Whispering Winds Lane and Shadowtree Lane on the south side of the large city park, officials said, but those warnings were lifted later in the day.
Fire crews were initially unable to reach the fire due to steep terrain in the Canyon Oaks area.
Meanwhile, firefighters continued to control several other large fires burning in Northern California.
The Klamathon Fire, which started July 5 in Siskiyou County and burned from California into Oregon over the past week, was 85 percent contained Friday night at 37,900 acres, according to Cal Fire.
The blaze is believed to have killed one person and injured three firefighters.
The body of John Karl Bermel, 72, of Hornbrook, was found July 6. It took investigators almost a week to identify him due to the state of his remains. Investigators are conducting a toxicology report to confirm the cause of death was indeed related to the fire, which officials said should be fully under control by Sunday.
More than 300 structures remain at risk, and 82 have been destroyed.
The County Fire in Yolo and Napa counties — the largest active wildfire in the state — has burned 90,288 acres. As of Friday night, the blaze was 97 percent contained. Twenty structures were destroyed in the fire and three were damaged. No injuries were reported.